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Interest in Different Types of News

Like last year we asked all our respondents to select their five most important types of news. Once again we see significant country-based variation.

Regional news is most important in Germany, reflecting the way the media and politics have traditionally been structured. Local news matters more in a vast country like the United States where city newspapers and local TV stations have become a core part of the media diet.

Americans show most interest in economic news along with the Japanese. The British, Finns, and Brazilians show least interest in political news. Italians and Spanish are interested in arts and culture news while our sample from urban Brazil is deeply interested in health and education, as well as science and technology.

Interest in types of news by country

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UK

Germany

Spain

Italy

France

Denmark

Finland

USA

Urban Brazil

Japan

News about the country

71%

67%

63%

59%

64%

67%

76%

57%

66%

52%

International news

49%

64%

45%

49%

52%

63%

55%

39%

41%

43%

Local news about my town or city

46%

47%

42%

45%

37%

40%

48%

57%

47%

31%

News about my region

38%

51%

42%

38%

41%

26%

47%

31%

12%

33%

Business and financial news

21%

17%

13%

15%

15%

21%

12%

20%

29%

26%

News about the economy

39%

29%

38%

33%

27%

35%

31%

46%

34%

44%

Entertainment and celebrity news

17%

15%

14%

13%

13%

12%

16%

15%

22%

24%

Fun/weird news

15%

14%

18%

21%

22%

18%

14%

16%

15%

28%

Health and education news

28%

30%

37%

38%

31%

29%

27%

28%

57%

30%

Arts and culture news

12%

9%

19%

24%

15%

15%

14%

10%

27%

15%

Sports news

29%

28%

35%

29%

25%

27%

27%

20%

30%

28%

News about the country’s politics

37%

51%

40%

54%

45%

59%

30%

46%

37%

52%

Science and technology news

25%

27%

33%

35%

28%

31%

31%

28%

43%

26%

Q2: Which of the following types of news is most important to you? Please choose up to five.

Looking at an aggregated view of our entire sample of almost 19,000 people we can see that many news topics are heavily gender specific – and these are universal across countries. Men prefer sports news by a margin of almost three to one compared to women but for celebrity news it is the other way round. Men are more interested in business news; women access more education, health, and local news.

Gender differences across different types of news – all countries

Q2. Which of the following types of news is most important to you? Please choose up to five

Base All 2014 – 18858

Weird news

This year we introduced a new category of ‘fun or weird’ news. In many countries there has traditionally been an amusing item at the end of a news bulletin or included prominently within a print newspaper but in the digital age this type of news has blossomed, encouraged by sharing of fun pictures and videos through social media sites.

Unlike entertainment and celebrity news, which is mainly driven by women under 35, fun/weird news is appreciated by both men and women. Around a quarter (24%) of 18–24 males and a third of 18–24 women (36%) said it was one of their five most important types of news.

Fun news compared by age and gender – all countries

Q2. Which of the following types of news is most important to you? Please choose up to five. Showing fun/weird news

Base All – 18858

Celebrity news compared by age and gender – all countries

Q2. Which of the following types of news is most important to you? Please choose up to five. Showing celebrity news

Base All – 18858

There is a strong correlation between these groups and socially driven sites like Buzzfeed and Upworthy where such material is often originated or shared. These new sites have pioneered new formats of fun news including lists, animated gifs (fun moving pictures), and games. By contrast, popular newspapers and their websites (in the UK) have mainly continued to satisfy interest for more straightforward entertainment and celebrity news, although they too have been experimenting with new formats.